The Shenandoah City Council is remaining firm in its opposition to the potential construction of a flyover by searching for a traffic engineer to conduct an independent study.

The study is in response to The Woodlands Chamber of Commerce’s Mobilty Team proposing to build a flyover a I-45 to Research Forest Drive. The Council has previously stated it feels the flyover will be financially detrimental to many of its businesses, causing drivers to bypass a portion of the retail area and make the businesses more difficult to reach.

City Administrator Greg Smith said the Council plans to hire an unbiased traffic engineer to conduct the study traffic in the affected areas, and whether or not such traffic projects would be justified.

“No engineer would be allowed to do the study if they’ve done work for The Woodlands Development Corporation, Howard Hughes Corporation, the City of Oak Ridge North, Shenandoah, or the township,” Smith said. “We want a truly unbiased traffic study. We feel there could be more than one option to alleviate traffic problems if they exist.”